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Happy New Year to Flint! Flint completed his one month quarantine and has joined the community. 🖤🤍 A couple hides have been added in case he wants a little retreat. I’m seeing one or two fin splits but healthy otherwise.

Little male tries dancing with the stars. Female takes off, and on the follow up, he meets a larger male…

We got a line for rams at this point! Very cool that you're sitting on eggs. 🤞

Hi Everyone, I wanted to share as there isn’t a lot of information out there about red mangroves in the freshwater aquarium. I got my mangroves off Amazon about 1.5 years ago, i tried them floating with all different kinds of lights and they really seemed to struggle. In the last year they have been in one consistent set up although it has been given minimal care on my part due to a few things. The tank is a 20 gallon high, substrate is 1/4 gravel from Home Depot and two Mangroves. the initial stocking was 1 male and 2 female guppies. The tank has been set up with no filter, airstone, and i recently added a heater for winter as it is now a garage office. But about 7 months ago i moved the set up to in front of a west facing window which caused and EXPLOSION of growth. The tank has kept stable pH, great buffer and no ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Currently there are between 200-300 guppies in this 20g talk all happy and healthy. I top it off once a week with a few gallons. mangroves are incredible and they are my favorite part of the tank for sure. The water has never turned green. There is some hair algae but that’s great for the babies to hide in. ENJOY NATURE!

I have 3 tanks that I need some stocking advice on. I have never tried Cychlids before so I thought this would be the time to do it. That is where i need the most advice. I have a choice of 3 thanks they could go in. All tanks are in width depth and height measurements. I have the right PH for them and the other stuff I can handle. 1. 23.6 X 11.7 x 14.3 No lid but I could probably get one that would work for it. 2. 15 X 15 X 16.7 cube tank with lid 3. Standard 20 gallon tall tank - had a leak that I fixed and now it can be put back into service. There are so many choices but these are on the smaller side tanks so the fish would have to be happy with the size. I can break up site lines with wood and plants. I would also like suggestions on companion fish and algae controllers for what-ever I end up getting. I am hoiping to throw this out here for some suggestions.

Guppysnail - Perfectly OK Hope you get your babies soon. Thank you all for the great suggestions and I want you to know that I think I have found the fish. It was one I had never even heard of and spent the day doing research. I love that it is a US fish for some odd reason. Even though most fish are US bred anyway I not sure why this would matter but I just like the idea that this little one comes from close to home. Again, thank you all for your time in helping me out.

I keep 2 honey gouramis in my 20 gallon and they never have any aggression and do great together. I think that they are male and female as well. Mine are not particularly shy, but like @Lennie's experience, mine have started to take "naps" as they get older. They sit on a plant leaf, sponge filter, or sand and perch on their 'feeler' fins together. I originally wanted a group of 3 but the fish store only had 2 at the time. If I were you I would get more 2-3 honey gourami. I also have 7 Harlequin Rasboras in the tank with the gourami, but I want to increase their group size when I get a bigger tank. As for the male guppies, I also have a group of 3. I originally had 2m/1f (on accident) but the female died and only one fry survived. They do chase each other sometimes but they don't do any damage so its up to you.

@Colu @nabokovfan87 Happy New Year! So far, no further losses. The six I have left appear healthy. I also noticed a Blue Dream female with eggs. Hoping the Schultzei don't eat all the fry. 😁 Thanks again for all the help. 👍

I think your right. In terms of centerpiece, try honey gourami.

Grindals versus killis. Who do you take to win?! They have been getting a rotation of grindals frozen daphinia and frozen brine. With kens grow meal mixed in. If I can't get a spawn off of that food rotation I don't think I ever will lol https://youtu.be/3yU1tZE1pYc?si=GWG-7Jj6RsFPIpXv

Life gets in the way sometimes. I'm just glad that my roommate was still willing to help despite the fact that he doesn't need to. Thank you for the kind words, it really helps 🙂

So far, so good! The fish celebrated the new year with new plants, Brine Shrimp and Bloodworms. I had Egg Nog and Bourbon

Had I known about using prime after a bleach dip, I might not needed to wait for a week of sun and air to kill the smell. Hydrogen peroxide is an alternative to bleach as a disinfectant. Medical grade is the 3% H2o2 that you find in the grocery/pharmacy. Used correctly it is aquarium safe. Peroxide is highly susceptible to light. You could liberally spray your tree in a plastic bag and place in a dark room for a few minutes or hours. Exposure to light will cause the peroxide to break down leaving you with water. The CDC says that on hard surfaces you can spray it on and wait a minute or three and wipe it off. Be sure that your peroxide hasn't expired. If you think you need to sanitize your rocks and gravel, you can boil them. Cover them with tap water and raise to boiling point 5-10 minutes. Most everything will begin dying at 150 degrees. Any cheap mechanical timer will do for the lights, but for about $10. you can buy a digital timer which will allow you to set the exact time you wish the lights to cycle down to the minute. They are usually smaller, come with a single pushbutton override, and most importantly, a battery backup.

I really need to buy like a 1000 ct bag of plant weights... I always find uses for them, even if it's just weighing down food that wants to float or something. Definitely a tool that I'm constantly finding myself needing! Like pipettes, lol.

fed out some grindal worms this morning. The platies and mosquitofish were very excited. The guppy fry are barely big enough to eat grindal worms but try really hard and sometimes succeed and it is adorable to watch. I got a grindal worm culture from @Guppysnailwhen i got shrimp and isopods from her, i just havent mentioned them that much. I also got some plant weights from my LFS and put together a bunch of hornwort which i put right next to my sponge filter, hopefully it will grow in and fill up that area of the tank so i have more texture there then my background.

Is this a tank you acquired? Or is this one you already have set up? What are your reasons for cleaning it, and / or disinfecting it? If this is a dry tank you recently acquired and if you are trying to clean surfaces, then cleaning vinegar will help to eliminate hard water marks, etc. It can be rinsed out with water then. Just take care not to harm the silicone seals. Now, if it is a tank badly troubled with disease, etc. then you may want to totally sanitize it. You can fill the bare tank with water, and then add several cups of Clorox Bleach and leave it up overnight. Then drain it completely, refill with water, and pour in an entire bottle of Prime (water treatment) and leave that up for 24 hours. Drain then, and dry out with paper towel and let stand empty for a few days to air-dry. Some folks skip the Prime step, and just allow any chlorox to evaporate out… I’m just paranoid. Anyway, when you start it back up, you are going to have to wait good and long before it’s properly cycled. You can perform a similar process with this driftwood. Fill a bathtub, put the wood in, weight it down completely under water if necessary, and add loads of chlorox bleach. Let it sit overnight. Drain the water, refill the tub, and dump in a bottle of Prime. Let that sit overnight. Drain, and let the wood air dry outside for a day or two. My son and I have done this with stones and sea shells. Never a problem if you are patient. No, if the stones are dry, the beneficial bacteria is no longer active. Same goes for the tank. If it is dry, the nitrifying bacteria is no longer alive. Only if still wet with tank water will there be anything that could possibly be maintained. But in that case, you do not want to “clean” or “sanitize” anything per say. Eco complete is a soil we have used a lot. It is specifically designed to facilitate plant root development. In general, unless you pour a sand cap layer across soil, added sand on any sort of coarser / larger grained substrate will eventually just fall beneath it. With substrate, larger stones / grains / particles rise up… smaller ones fall beneath over time. Sand is not ideal for plant roots, IMHO. A 40 gal is large enough to require an appropriate light to penetrate to the substrate to grow plants. Your description is a bit unclear… is there a built-in light in your “full hood” or are you setting LED lights up on the tank? This one is hard to answer without more details about your goals. If you have a glass top, I would personally recommend buying the $150 ACO Light designed for 36” tanks. It will be perfect. For a timer, just buy a cheap 24-hr timer to plug a light into. Set it up for a short 8-hr photo period first, once tons of plants are added. If ample plants will demand all of the available nutrients, algae growth will be minimized. Be sure to feed the plants with recommended dosage of liquid fertilizer. Some plants will appreciate root tabs. Generally speaking, before adding fish, you want to build a garden of eden first. Don’t water change until you have the tank densely planted for a few weeks, and are ready to add fish. Beneficial bacteria (e.g. FritzZyme 7) can be added when you set up your tank, then when you add plants, and when you add fish. Eco Complete will have some bacteria to kick start the tank. Add extra air-stones. The bacteria you are cultivating is aerobic bacteria. More air, the better as the colonies kick off.

That is a lovely tank with a nice stock. I think gouramis like taking naps and we may mistake is with being shy. I have been keeping my honey gourami about 2 years by now and when Im not around the tank he likes to take a nap somewhere from time to time. This is not honey gourami specific. I sometimes see my gold gouramis doing this too! Can it be a this sort of action that make you consider it as shy? Does it hide a lot or just take a nap somewhere dont see? I surely agree that honey gouramis like action going around tho. Mine usually easily feels stressed if there is not enough fish around. I have kept him in quite big tanks with very little stocking and he was glass surfing all the time but it directly changes when he is introduced to a tank with lots of fish. If I were you I would add more to the rasbora school maybe up to 15 in total, and don’t add anything else. And I would try to breed panda cories myself in the future because easy to do and would be cute to increase your own school with the babies you raise. I did not advice to increase the school of panda cories directly as I am unsure how your ram would like it now or in the future. My gbr and male apisto cacatuoides is not a fan of having bottom dwellers around and can be bullies. I saw mine bullying cories and red lizard whiptails in the past. adding more guppies is pointless IMO if you dont wanna add female. They are not meant to be kept in male only groups anyway, and since you dont wanna keep them really, you will be obliged to add more and more gradually due to losing some in the future at least due to old age.

Have light white sand substrate in my 40 gal tank and feel like it is pretty hard to maintain. I used a Fluval small Gravel Vacuum Cleaner but it's very easy to get sand out of the tank when trying to suck the fish poops. I have a marineland water filter and I am not sure if I should switch to any other water filter for better flow over the sand. The fish poops seem to accumulate so fast after my cleanup. Any advice? Shall I change my vacuum, water filter, or tank setup to make it easier for the cleanup? Just feel like it is really hard to keep up with the poop build-up in the sand ; ( Thanks!

Let's start here.... ...and all I want to do is share the headline and just mention it if you've ever had a tank struggle like I have. *deep breath, exhale slow* I woke up this morning and it wasn't anything special that caught my eye. Those that know me know that I follow certain aquascaping channels and my goal is to get towards having a nice tank again. Seeing something like gjcarew's or Mmiller2001's or Seattle_Aquarist or the countless other amazing plant minds on the forums has been inspiring and it's been one of the motivations for me as I did enter back into the hobby, struggled, and wanted to really learn some things I didn't know or understand about my own failures. Without knowing it, this is one of the more profound and subtle notions and it was ringing clear because of the time and the place of everything around me in the moment. Imagine a world of chaos and outside of the walls you see volcano erupting or storms surrounding. You see the trees being tossed by the wind or the ocean waves crashing against the rocks and spraying high into the sky, but you're safe inside the walls and you are focused on this little pod of nature that you and entwined with. I can mention George Farmer and his meditative approach towards tank maintenance or I can mention this clip above and the subtle notion that.... "2023 was full of new and exciting adventures and as the challenges presented themselves, we faced them all together with a unique persistence of an aquascaper." [There is definitely more to the quote above and so I encourage everyone to watch at least the introduction on the Green Aqua video above.] It is one of those phrases that has a lot of gravity to it and it's something that you really don't understand unless you've truly experienced it. I think a lot of people have seen the movie Rudy and been inspired to persevere. Maybe you've seen Miracle and been inspired to face some overwhelming obstacles and scars from the past. There is a lot of ways that we can find energy, momentum, and inspiration in this world thanks to things like youtube videos, movies, forum posts, and conversations with friends. ....and with all that being said I wanted to share a bit about my own vulnerable persistence. I was watching an old video and then I looked up at the wall and I saw this extreme shift in my tank. It wasn't subtle, but it was a moment where I cherished everything that happened for me to get to the moment that I was in. It honestly started here, with this tank and the first time I've ever purchased a single piece of hardscape with the intent of aquascaping something. Even then, USPS lost the package of the piece of wood that I had hand selected. This piece was sent as a replacement and it didn't fit the tank I had. I had to cut the piece of wood and then I had to wait for the opportunity to really scape something with it. I had a piece of wood and I had some plants, but it wasn't an aquascape. It wasn't meant to be, but it was a holding place for a future self. This led me down this path, which was my first attempt at an aquascape. It was my first real attempt at a carpeting plant and my first real attempt at something using a "planted tank substrate" in lieu of sand. All it needed to do was to grow and to work. I failed with how I planted the plants. I failed in how I cared for the plants. I failed in my analysis of necessary water chemistry, lighting settings, and that substrate I used has turned out to be another failure point. That tank quickly regressed back towards chaos. I tried continuously to make things works by adding "more plants." Some things works and some things failed. It was not about giving up, but it was consistently a journey about learning why. Why something worked, why something failed. There is always things out of your control and there is always going to be something where you might just have to start over. Try again to create something beautiful. But again, chaos ensues at times... and all of your moss dies off. ....and sometimes you get a lifeboat from a friend (or two, or three). Brown tinge is from blackwater extract being added! Stepping out of your comfort zone can be enlightening and focusing on the things going wrong isn't as impactful as dwelling on the reasons why things went wrong. There is an eternal hope if you have the perspective and the patience for it... new things will happen and that changes the parameters of everything. The point is that every single tank can be a journey if you frame it as such. Enjoy the journey as much as the perspective that can give you. Sometimes you start in one place, find yourself in another, and just need to follow your feet towards the direction you wish to go. Starting point when the goal was to have a planted tank, discovering aquarium co-op and wanting to grow plants for the first time. This was my 55G and it was just planted with a second or third plant order. There were some failures and I changed to a 75G with an active substrate with a cap.... in a tank mostly filled with anubias. And this is where we are now. Time will tell how myself and the tank grows. Thank you to everyone who has helped me along this journey and know that there is sincere gratitude for your help along my own journey, big or small, it's all valuable for me and being put towards this goal I have for myself. I'd love to hear about your own tank journeys below.

This has been the best tool so far in my battle with duck weed. Fingers crossed I got it all and will be rid of it in this tank. It's call the Floater pick, has anyone else tried it?

Mark's shrimp tanks uses it to collect duckweed for making shrimp food! Awesome work. I've gotten rid of it twice. Don't fear the duckweed! I used a specimen container and 2-3 buckets. I would pick through it manually and remove it by hand. Dip it in the container to remove the duckweed and then just put the "cleaned" plants in the bucket of water. Repeat that about 5-15 times and you'll feel like you got most of it. Cross your fingers and find out.

So I have a new 29Gallon Tank. It seems to be cycled as ammonia and nitrite are staying at zero (Although nitrate isn't going up much, but I have a lot of plants) However im having trouble figuring out what my PH/GH/KH are (Im using Tetra strips + API Master + KH/GH tests) Attached are pictures. Here are the results of the API dropper test: KH - 5 drops (So 89.5 ppm) GH - 10 drops (So 179 ppm) (Which seems to match the tetra kit) So overall it seems like my parameters are: PH - 7.8-ish? (Weirdly the PH out of the tap is like.....8.4 or something) KH -80-90ish (I Think, the tetra kit had the KH edges turning blue...but API test confirms around 90-ish) GH - Probably between 150-200? overall are these ok parameters? These were tested in my aquarium 1 day after a water change. The ph out of the tap is way higher for some reason? (Not sure why). I have plants and driftwood in my aquarium. My main concern is of course for my fish: 2 Pleco's (I think zebra or striped pleco, they said they were bristlenose but I don't think so) 6 peppered corys 4 guppies 2 nerite snails Also suggestions for tankmates? or am I maxed out? EDIT: 1 note, I use prime to dechlorinate....but it almost likes like the total chlorine is slightly off white....maybe just the lighting? I even usually slightly OVER dose the prime so I can't imagine there would be any chlorine?

I'll post a picture tomorrow with the other side of the head, the little guy is sleeping now. I really appreciate for responding @nabokovfan87 🙂 . I hope its nothing bad 😞 Its just werid because he didn't have that or noticed any growth in that area, it just appeared there yesterday. These picture that I have included here are picture of when he didn't have that, I took these picture on Christmas day

If possible, try to get a photo showing the other side of the head. I'm very sorry! Hopefully someone can chime in with a bit of advice. @Tropicalfishkeeping201

Pictures of the 2. Can't quite tell what they are. Also does my tank seem appropriately stocked? or overstocked Also does my pH seem to match what I thought? (Based off the API color kit) It's hard to tell but it looks around 7.8

You have to learn to feather the flow. I do that by pinching the hose, but depending on physical limitations that might be tough. You can also use a shutoff valve (like most Python systems come with).

I have reclaimed the stand back to an aquarium stand!!! . I had to give up the old heavy chest of drawers in the barter! However, I'm downsizing and simplifying so it worked out...gave the 20 long to a friend and now have a 6.8 Imagitarium setup. Another shrimp tank in the works. Removed the filtration system and added 2 original nano Nermy sponge filters.. I really enjoy these cube tanks.

I have multiple Buce in my tank there and they are well covered enough due to placement of my Java Ferns to shield them from too strong of light until the Vale grew to assist in the coverage.

Thank you! Your tank looks awesome, that’s what I’m shooting for! Yes I’m running a fluval 3.0 which is close to the aqua sky. Right now I’m at 8 hours a day with a 2 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down. I’m at 45% intensity so as to balance out possible algae growth but I’m thinking about pushing slowly up to 75 over the next three weeks. Hopefully this helps the Val explode. I’m mostly worried about getting algae on my buce which is why I’m being careful with light intensity.

My tanks parameters: 7.0-7.2 pH 77 degrees 40-50 nitrates(I change my water 30-40% every weekend) Substrate: Chalily Aquatic Soil, locked with fine sand, ActivFlora black substrate and scatter gravel.

Def agree with @Cory low pH and low light aren't great for vale. I also make sure to dose properly with EZ Green and I also run a CO2 set up, as I see you use both these you are good here. Here are my specs for my Fluval Aquasky(I think that is what you are running), a break mid day helps for longer enjoyment hours when I am home while keeping the chance for algae minimal. I produce so much in my main tank its in that I have to prune every other month as there are more shoots than I need. Hope this helps. 🙂

I find I am less than enamored with java moss. Itis without question an algae magnet, and is invasive and requires constantly retrenching it back…. And you always leave fragments behind that grow and continue to spread. Put some on a nice piece of driftwood, and in a few months you have a moss blob and have a hard time telling there is driftwood in the mass….

The key is pinching the tube to control the flow (watch the thumb at the beginning of the video):

To me, that looks like very good water for a wide variety of fish (especially livebearers).

The ph thing is common it’s normal because the co2 (carbon dioxide)in the water out of your tap isn’t the same as in open air higher Co2 will decrease ph lower co2 will increase ph my tap is at like 8 and drops to 6.6 is after equalizing some water company’s do this on purpose so decrease pipe erosion I wouldn’t worry to much about it in my opinion the plants will also change the amount of co2 adding yet another layer If you want to know the ph out of the tap without anything else just put some water in a bucket and stir it periodically throughout the day (or use a extra pump if your feeling fancy lol) test ph the next day and that will be the truth ph of your water as for the kh the edge of strip type tests sometimes change colour because water drips on them from the other pads changing the result if both say 80 mostly it’s probably 80 and the chlorine test, if you really want to see, just put some water in a bucket triple quadruple, the dosage of prime. See if you still get anything but personally, I wouldn’t worry about it you can give yourself a headache squinting at colours with these test kits lol and if you throw up a picture of the bristle nose or not someone can identify it im sure

Sadly I have not yet done killi fish. I have to wait on @TeeJayto come up with babies (no pressure…well ok a little 🤣)I only had Heterandria Formosa -least killifish which are not true killi fish.

None of these perimeters look at all concerning. They seem pretty standard and most fish (barring very sensitive species) will do just fine in them. Also, driftwood will lower pH, so that's the reason your tank water is softer than your tap water.

I see. The volume calculator I used was estimating 42 gallons based on dimensions in centimeters.

That’s exactly what I was telling myself. Thank you for confirming. I’m also just one of those people that has to prove to myself that what I’m thinking is legitimate, lol.

Thank you for your suggestions Fish Folk. Although ive a full hooded light for my fish, the bulbs do come out. There is a full glass top also that has a lot of calcium build up on it. I bought the tank last year. After cycling it, i put fish and plastic plants in it. After a few months, my fish started dying in the plastic plants. i thought they got stuck in the plastic leaves but a friend suggested they were sick and their bodies got caught in between the plastic leaves. Some of them died that way but the remaining fish died due to my heater had a lot of condensation. I couldnt see the numbers, i thought i turned it down, but instead, i turned it up and when i got home from work, all my fish were floating on top.The temp was 92F. I cannot move the tank myself, too heavy and awakward. I can spray down the inside of tank with vinegar and spray it off with another bottle filled with water, at same time do tge same with gravel and tank decorations. I thibk thats about all. Thank you again! Chris

Thanks for that. Have bred many batches of danios with great success so the barb process is similar. It was a bare bottom tank but I use a basket well off the bottom for the eggs to drop through. However after the first night spawning (I like to leave them in for two nights) the male somehow got past the basket so I can only assume he had a great feed. Today is day 12 so I expected them to be a little bigger. But I think I can see that they are taking more shape of a barb and not a danio. Plus the behavior of these fry is very different to that of the danios. These fry are extremely timid and although free swimming will hide most of the time. Typically behavior of a barb. Not worried about the quantity of this spawn as it was the first time and now the female is back in a recovery tank she has fattened up nicely. So I will go again in a few days by isolating her and feed bbs for two weeks and then try again.

Here's a good photo of zebra danio fry growth. Notice the shape and colour (Almost clear until they start getting stripes) and the body is much shorter in tiger barbs. If you look from where the belly ends to where the tail starts you can really see the difference

Dear @Arnam Anan, welcome! Judging by the photo of your tank, you have jumped into the hobby with both feet! That is so great! Hope you enjoy the adventure!! Best, Andy

He's gorgeous 😍 Happy New Year 🎉

Nice looking aquarium, I really like the different plants. What size is that tank and how many other do you have?

Thanks. Yeah they probably are. I don't really care about the original leaves at this point. I think they will all die eventually. I just want the new growth to keep coming in and for the new mature leaves to stay healthy.

When i was cycling my 10x4 i purchased some serpae tetra AND this little guy: Hadn't seen him in 3 weeks so spent the day looking for him; usually he stays under a rock and just sticks up his tail like a white flag but today i caught him out in the open. Bet he's sorry he came out...

Came home today and noticed this: I think the anubias is blooming!

First attempt at feeding the goby went poorly. He's been hiding behind the power head and heater, and even agyer essentially placing some mysis shrimp in his mouth he refused to eat. We'll try again tomorrow. Here's the pink zoas I picked up. And in the background, the Pom Pom crab The cleaner shrimp and the blue ricordea I removed the goldfish from the 20 long the krib is in. She had been beating up on the goldfish pretty bad. Guess he didn't know to stay out of the way and couldn't hide. He did his job - aside from diatoms, the tank is algae free! Swordtail fry are big enough to swim around with the adults without fear of being eaten

It looks like a fun experiment! Plants have sure changed the way I keep aquariums.